Galileo revisited: How ribbons roll
In a twist on a classic experiment, MIT researchers discover how flexible cylinders behave when rolling down a slope.
Unraveling the Matrix
A new way of analyzing grids of numbers known as matrices could improve signal-processing applications and data-compression schemes.
Bursting a bubble?
A generally accepted theory explaining the frequent eruptions at Italy’s Stromboli volcano is called into question by new research.
Rivest wins faculty’s Killian Award
MIT encryption pioneer recognized for ‘extraordinary’ contributions in computer science
Explained: Monte Carlo simulations
Mathematical technique lets scientists make estimates in a probabilistic world
Mysterious quantum forces unraveled
MIT researchers find a way to calculate the effects of Casimir forces, offering a way to keep micromachines’ parts from sticking together.
A mathematician takes his field to account
University of Arizona professor William Yslas Vélez speaks about minorities in math
Two seniors, one graduate student win $250,000 Hertz Fellowships
No-strings-attached awards last up to five years
Rough calculations
Sanjoy Mahajan’s new book, Street-Fighting Mathematics, lays out practical tools for educated guessing and down-and-dirty problem-solving
MIT wins Putnam math competition
Seniors Qingchun Ren and Yufei Zhao finish in top five, helping MIT secure overall victory and end a four-year drought.
Explained: Regression analysis
Sure, it’s a ubiquitous tool of scientific research, but what exactly is a regression, and what is its use?
Explained: Linear and nonlinear systems
Much scientific research across a range of disciplines tries to find linear approximations of nonlinear behaviors. But what does that mean?
Zipporah Levinson, Department of Mathematics’ ‘den mother,’ dies at age 93
The wife of the late Institute Professor Norman Levinson opened her home to many of the department’s mathematicians